Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
Ebonyi State Chief Judge, Anselm Nwaigwe, has set free no fewer than 16 inmates in the state Correctional Service headquarters, Abakaliki, the capital of the state.
The lucky persons granted bail were those, who had over stayed in the facility without trial and those specially considered with the spirit of COVID-19 irrespective of their various crimes.
Nwaigwe at the court sitting said the decision was taken to decongest inmates whose cases were bailable. He, however, adjourned the session to Wednesday for further trial at the Afikpo Correctional Centre.
Meanwhile, the Comptroller of Nigeria Correctional Service, Ebonyi State Command, Mrs Adaobi Oputa, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for ordering the COVID-19 jail release, stressing that it would go a long way in reducing congestion in the centres across the country.
She said:”I am happy this is part of the ongoing nationwide consideration to decongest prison in view of the fact that most prisons are congested and going by the pandemic.
“It is in this consideration that the exercise was done, some of them who would not have been released are being set free because of this exercise.
“The number is coming down gradually. If you can recall, two months ago, the number was about 1,200 but as at this morning, we have 1,056 and because of the lockdown, we don’t accept more accused persons into the prison, so that already infected persons cannot be brought in.
“This is why the number has come down and with this exercise today, the number has dropped.”